Ravens restructure Lardarius Webb's contract, sources say

The Ravens have restructured starting cornerback Lardarius Webb's five-year, $50 million contract to reduce his $12 million salary-cap figure, according to league sources.

The Ravens reached a financial compromise on Tuesday with cornerback Lardarius Webb, restructuring his five-year, $50 million contract for the second time in the past year, according to NFL sources.

The adjustment lowered Webb's 2015 compensation to $6 million from $8 million to create additional salary cap space for the team. Webb also received a bonus in the $3 million range that will be prorated over the remaining three years of the contract. The deal includes $5.5 million guaranteed for this year.

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Under the new arrangement, Webb is due to make roughly $18 million over the next three years if 62-percent playtime thresholds are reached. He's now due to make $6 million in both 2016 and 2017 if he reaches those playtime qualifies.

The Ravens had worked off-and-on to restructure Webb's contract since the NFL scouting combine in late February. Contract discussions were tabled before the start of the league year, when the Ravens traded five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Haloti Ngata to the Detroit Lions, but were revisited this week and finalized Tuesday.

Webb entered Tuesday due an $8 million base salary in 2016 and $8.5 million in 2017 with salary cap figures of $12 million and $10.5 million, respectively.

Before last season, the Ravens converted $4 million of Webb's $7.5 million base salary into a signing bonus to reduce his salary cap figure by $3 million for 2014, to $7.504 million.

The Ravens didn't want to cut Webb and he didn't want to leave the Ravens. If the team had cut him, they would have saved just $2 million against the salary cap and created $10 million in dead money.

Webb suffered nerve damage to his back during the second day of training camp this past season. It was a painful injury that affected his speed and explosiveness. A hematoma kept pressing on the nerve and took months to fully heal. During that time, Webb's leg muscle atrophied and prevented him from running full speed.

When the condition improved toward the end of the season, Webb began to regain some of his old form and finished with 46 tackles and one interception in 13 games, including 11 starts.

Webb allowed three catches for 21 yards and no touchdowns on seven passes thrown in his direction during a loss to the Houston Texans in December. That performance drew praise from defensive coordinator Dean Pees and the Ravens are hoping that Webb, 29, will continue to upgrade his play and remain healthy next season.

Webb has also had to come back from torn anterior cruicate ligaments in both knees during his six NFL seasons since being selected in the third round of the NFL draft in 2010 out of Nicholls State (La.).

Webb was voted the Ravens' recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award this year, with teammates recognizing him for his perseverance.